Big Lots

This is your marked down everything store! you never really know what you might find and the products change on a regular basis. For this reason, I usually don’t go here with my shopping list. But it’s fun to just browse — I usually end of finding an assortment of things that are fun to try or I needed but hadn’t gotten around to picking up yet. Check them out!

Wow. Who can possibility grump about Big Lots? Oh I know Grumpy People. This place is GREAT. you know like Tony the Tiger. Plus today only get an extra 20% off EVERYTHING including marked down items. No I don’t work there but I love to shop there.

I used to come here a lot because my office was down the street and found some really great deals. I decided to come in the other day and was shocked how dumpy it is. I was talking to my friend and said, «Whoa, it’s like Big Lots is closing.» Her response, «Isn’t Big Lots always like that?» I said, «No. It’s a closeout store with a K-​Mart feel.» She laughed. I certainly experienced much, much better from other Big Lots and this store.
Anyway, the selections were not that great and felt picked over, items were not organized nor neat, and the furniture section looked like a disastrous. I was rather shocked, actually.
I noticed a staff member assisting a family looking at furniture and being helpful. The staff I spoke too was helpful and cheerful, kudos to them, as they are the only shining experience in a rather dull and shabby environment.

This Big Lots ‘closeout’ store has been there forever & their prices are usually like $.03 cheaper than Walmart, (wow, a bargain! Lol!)

This was my first trip to the Webster Groves Big Lots. Will it be my last? Well who knows. I live in South City so I normally shop at the South Kingshighway location. Now let me say Big Lots in general seem to just have awful customer service. The location on Kingshighway is not to much better than the one here at Webster Groves. I understand why Big Lots has terrible customer service… They have low prices, and low overhead which includes minimal labor, so good luck finding help on the sales floor. They just are not staffed for customer service. Not that the employees are necessarily rude in general, its just they are pretty much always understaffed. So to an extent you need to expect this anytime you go to Big Lots and for the most part this is not a real problem unless you want furniture.
Big Lots has a fairly large furniture department, and I wonder how much furniture they can sell, because it is very hard to find any help in the furniture department. I managed to purchase a sofa from the south city location, and this was an act of patience and determination. I had to wait for a sales associate and make it very obvious I needed help.
The reason I drove to the Webster Groves location is because I attempted to purchase a computer desk from the south city location and they were out so I decided to check out the Webster Groves store. So I go out there and I walk around the furniture department and low and behold there is my desk! And what do we have here? A sign that says it is on sale for $ 49.99! Fortune smiles upon me!
The sign says to see a sales associate on the desk. So I wait around the furniture department for like 20 minutes. I get tired of waiting and they have the furniture kits underneath the floor models. So I go and attempt to find a flat cart. I can’t find one nor can I find any sales personnel to ask. So I decide to put it in a regular cart and head for the register. It took some work but I was on my way to having a new desk.
I go to the register and the desk rings up $ 69.99. I tell the lady checking me out that this desk is supposed to be on sale for $ 49.99. She says «No…It is $ 69.99. I again reiterate that there is a display sign that this desk is on sale for $ 49.99. She looks puzzled and has a conference with another checker. They begin to dig around an add. I then tell them again about the display sign. The checker then decides to go get the sign, but her coworker thinks it would be better if me, the customer goes and retrieves it. Fine, whatever… I will go get it.
So I go and get the sign and begin to make my way towards the registers, and the checker meets me halfway. I hand her the sign and she looks at it for almost a minute, and comes to the conclusion that it is real. Oh and this whole time a third Big Lots employee this older lady is just standing behind the cash register staring me down like she wants to kill me.
The checker reluctantly sales the desk to me for $ 49.99. But she still has this uncertain look on her face like «Oh my gosh, did I do the right thing?»
This was one of the most bizarre shopping experiences I have ever had. I think they thought I created a sign my self or something. I guess somehow they thought I had Big Lots signs that I brought in to get a desk 20 dollars cheaper. The third lady staring me down was the icing on the cake. The lack of knowledge of their products and even not knowing what their sales signs are about was a bit much to take in. They seriously were acting like I was doing something wrong.
Other people would have left in disgust and frustration due to this horrible display of customer service, but not me. I wanted that desk for $ 49.99 and I got it! But it took patience.